Kenton band '53 playing Mulligan's "Swinghouse"

[Larry Kart]

... and it swings:

[alocispepraluger102]

sweet. thx. we needed that today.

[JSngry]

A tad faster than the original, which I think swings a little more, but marginally...I've heard airshots of this band where the tempos go wild and the band is actually sloppy, and that does not happen here, so good.

Biggest difference I can hear here is Lee...my goodness! And I'll take Zoot over Kamuca, just in general.

There are other "Kenton Drummers" that define the role more epitomically than Stan Levy, but Kenton never had a more swinging drummer than Stan Levey. Ever!

That staging, though, whoa.....not sure about that, or the little semi-bow that Kenton gives to somebody before walking over to sit down at the piano and be all leaderly in appearance (only). And did Don Bagley REALLY play like that?

No matter, that was one helluva band when it didn't get too "Kenton-y". There were other editions forthcoming that did that better than this one. But jeezus, this bad swung!

[Larry Kart]

A tad faster than the original, which I think swings a little more, but marginally...I've heard airshots of this band where the tempos go wild and the band is actually sloppy, and that does not happen here, so good.

Biggest difference I can hear here is Lee...my goodness! And I'll take Zoot over Kamuca, just in general.

There are other "Kenton Drummers" that define the role more epitomically than Stan Levy, but Kenton never had a more swinging drummer than Stan Levey. Ever!

That staging, though, whoa.....not sure about that, or the little semi-bow that Kenton gives to somebody before walking over to sit down at the piano and be all leaderly in appearance (only). And did Don Bagley REALLY play like that?

No matter, that was one helluva band when it didn't get too "Kenton-y". There were other editions forthcoming that did that better than this one. But jeezus, this bad swung!

Yeah -- I wondered about Bagley, too. And kudos to Rosolino.

[AllenLowe]

wow; Konitz was wide awake on that one. Nothing like 16 bars to make you say something; Sweet Georgie Brown?

[JSngry]

Yes, those are the changes.

Just wondering...is there documentation about how the Jewish members of Kenton's band felt about playing Berlin in 1953?

But on a more pleasant note...yeah, Lee! That guy....yeah.

[Larry Kart]

Just wondering...is there documentation about how the Jewish members of Kenton's band felt about playing Berlin in 1953?

Can't imagine that would have been a problem for anyone on the band. It's not like Berlin in '53 wasn't a Western democracy. As for Lee in particular, at that point FWIW he was among the key influences on several prominent German jazz musicians, e.g. tenor saxophonist Hans Koller. Then, of course, there's always the fallback hipster position, as in Chet Baker's remark to pianist Romano Mussolini: "Sorry about your old man."

[JSngry]

So everybody was "over it" by then? That seems hard to believe, maybe? Not musician to musician, but as civilians.

Then again, maybe Berlin was already a regular stop for American jazz groups by 1953 and everybody was "over it." by then, moving on to the Cold War.

I honestly don't know.

No matter...what is Lee thinking here?

Or anybody here?

[Quasimado]

According to the liner of the Munich concert CD from 9/16/53, the saxophone section was: Konitz, Schildkraut, Bill Holman, Zoot, Tony Ferina (bari).

Q

[JSngry]

I probably knew this at one point, but...why wasn't Bob Gioga on that tour? He was still with the band stateside for a little while after, no? Or was he off by then?

[JSngry]

Just noticed Stan Levy playing matched grip...interesting...

[Larry Kart]

So everybody was "over it" by then? That seems hard to believe, maybe? Not musician to musician, but as civilians.

Maybe not everyone was "over it," but it's not like the audience at a 1953 Berlin jazz concert would have included any flag-waving Nazis. Also, if the band's next gig happens to be in Berlin, what exactly are you going to do, tell Stan, "I'll see you when we get to Denmark?"

[JSngry]

No, I didn't mean anything like that, just wondered if anybody was feeling a vibe or anything, not so much from anybody in particular, just, like in general, just because. I don't see how you could know where you were, especially if it was your first time, and less than a decade after, and not feel something for at least a moment. Not necessarily something "overwhelming", but something, ya' know?